From: Rich Lysakowski [mailto:lysakowski@yahoo.com] 

Sent: Saturday, September 19, 2015 2:27 PM

To: EBSA, E-ORI - EBSA

Subject: Conflict of Interest Rule--Retirement Investment Advice proposed rulemaking

Dear DOL Representatives, 

DOL's proposed Conflict of Interest Rule--Retirement 

Investment Advice proposed rule-making confuses brokerdealers with investment advisors. The Department of 

Labor’s (DOL’s) proposed retirement rule would limit my 

ability to trade listed options in my self-directed retirement 

accounts. It’s a limitation that, to me, makes no 

sense. The DOL proposed regulation is misguided and 

passing it will be a big mistake. It will create much higher 

risks and costs for the ensuring the safe retirements of 

millions of Americans.

I am an active and sophisticated individual investor. I do 

not use TD Ameritrade, Fidelity, or similar companies as 

my investment advisers. I use them as market access 

providers and trade execution platform providers to 

execute my own retirement transactions. I frequently use 

options and risk-managed ETFs to protect my accounts 

from risk exposure and to smooth out the returns of my 

retirement accounts. I do not rely on broker-dealers or 

market access providers for advice for any aspect of my 

retirement investments.

DOL or SEC must not regulate options trading in 

retirement accounts to "protect" me from investment 

advisers. In fact, NOT being able to execute options 
transactions myself in my retirement accounts will expose 

me to much greater financial risk for my retirement. 

Your proposed regulation is misguided and tilts the 

balance away from individual investors and in favor of big 

financial institutions. The big financial institutions are 

responsible for the recent financial crisis -- not individual 

investors, options or derivatives.

Employers have pushed to eliminate traditional pensions 

in favor of self-directed 401k accounts and IRA accounts, 

in order to eliminate pension expenses. Individuals are 

now responsible for retirement accounts ourselves, not 

financial advisers or institutions. Now the DOL wants to 

limit the ability of individuals to execute our own 

investment decisions, and force us to pay someone else to 

manage our retirement accounts. This adds great cost 

and time and money risk to the entire retirement 

investment process.

The DOL proposal appears like a hidden proposal coming 

directly from the financial services industry lobby. It 

proposes to force individuals to pay and use third-party 

advisers in order to have risk-managed retirement 

accounts. The DOL proposal itself creates a great conflict 

of interest between individual investors and the financial 

industry. It forces all individual investors to pay for 

services that we don't want or need.

We must not be required to pay someone else to make 

and execute our own decisions in our own retirement 
accounts. The proposed regulation is based on a 

fundamentally incorrect assumption that creates a conflict 

of interest in favor of the financial industry.

"[[Page 21929]]

In light of the breadth and intent of ERISA and the Code's 

statutory definition, the growth of participant-directed 

investment arrangements and IRAs, and the need for 

plans and IRA owners to seek out and rely on 

sophisticated financial advisers to make critical investment 

decisions in an increasingly complex financial 

marketplace."

The DOL proposed regulation is push the idea that 

"participant-directed" accounts need to be managed by 

someone else, rather than be "participant-owned and 

participant-directed" accounts. It is also clearly trying to 

create "the need for plans and IRA owners to seek out and 

rely on sophisticated financial advisers to make critical 

investment decisions". 

The DOL proposal seeks to restrict account owners from 

managing their own self-directed retirement 

accounts. This rule-making is misguided and must not 

pass.

Your proposal to "protect" individual investors will create 

much greater risk and costs for individual investors. We 

must be able to execute their own investments for 

accounts that we own, and NOT be required to pay 
anyone else for this right and responsibility.

If the DOL wishes to discuss this, please have DOL 

representatives contact me directly. I will gladly 

participate in a public forum to prevent this unnecessary 

regulation. 

Best Regards, 

Richard Lysakowski, Ph.D.

19 Bowen Avenue

Medford, MA 02155